Arizona Woman Denies Child-Porn Charges, Blames Teen Daughter

An Arizona woman charged with receiving infant porn said on Monday that it was her teen daughter, not her, who was in communication with a Colorado man who has been arrested on child pornography charges.

Sarah Cox, 39, of Clarkdale, was charged late last week with three counts of knowingly receiving child pornography. Earlier today, New Times reported that a federal complaint filed in Arizona U.S. District Court by U.S. Homeland Security Investigations also describes a conversation in which online user "JadeJeckel" asserts that she would "get" a friend's three-year-old and molest her. Agents later concluded that "JadeJeckel" was Cox, matching her driver's license photo with an image file she allegedly sent to the Colorado suspect, Richard Hennis.

Federal authorities are prosecuting Hennis, 40, and 18-year-old Brandi Leonard, also of Colorado, in connection with the production of child porn. The feds allege that Leonard told Hennis that she had sexually abused a one-year-old girl, and that he asked her to do it again, and to take pictures and video. She allegedly complied.

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According to the complaint filed in Arizona federal court, Hennis and Cox chatted online in November and December. The complaint states that Hennis sent Cox three photographs of a one-year-old being sexually abused, using the Kik instant-messaging app.

Prior to that, "JadeJeckel" had told Hennis, who went by the username "funguy4u2use," that she intended to sexually abuse a toddler.

Cox describes herself as a member of the online activist group Anonymous and says she's a hacker who has investigated pedophiles before.

"I've made a career out of chasing people like this," she says. "So I went on a hunt for this guy, gathering all the information I could to turn in to the police."

She says she sent details about the incident and the suspect to a fellow hacker. She has not turned over any information to law enforcement, she says, because she needs to gather more information.

The man sent her daughter child porn, Cox alleges, and her daughter took sexually explicit selfies and sent them to the man.

Why didn't she alert police?

"I was advised by my counselor, a professional therapist, not to go to the police yet," she says.

Informed that a therapist would be obligated to report the crime under Arizona law, Cox backtracks, saying she didn't mention child pornography to the therapist. She adds that she isn't certain the man sent child porn; she made the assumption because she saw a child's face in a preview of one of the videos he sent.

"I'm not one of those people that's going to run to the cops," Cox says.

Is her daughter receiving the help she needs?

"Apparently not," Cox says. But she says she doubts her daughter typed the part about abusing a three-year-old.

Then who did?

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Cox says she doesn't know.

Cox has promised to forward screenshots and other evidence to New Times. We'll update this story if and when she does.

UPDATE: Several readers have asked whether Cox has been arrested. The complaint says nothing about an arrest, and as of 2 p.m. Monday, no court date has been scheduled.

UPDATE 2: Cox forwarded some pictures to New Times of what she says are screenshots from her daughter's phone of her daughter's conversations with an older man, plus Cox's conversations with the "hacker" about her daughter's Internet habits.

Ray Stern has worked as a newspaper reporter in Arizona for more than two decades. He's won numerous awards for his reporting, including the Arizona Press Club's Don Bolles Award for Investigative Journalism.

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